#firstworldwar — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #firstworldwar, aggregated by home.social.
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“Idyll” by Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) was one of the leading British poets of the 20th century, one of the famous “war poets” and a decorated World War 1 veteran. His sobering wartime verses, stripped of patriotic illusions, exposed the horrors and brutality of war, countering the prevailing narratives of the time.
You might not immediately associate the poem presented here with war, but it helps to have some context. Sassoon originally wrote it in his poetry notebook in February 1918, while the WW1 was still ongoing. Unlike most of his war poems, the verses of this one have a calming and reassuring effect, leaning on lovely pastoral imagery. But there’s also a lingering sense of loss and sorrow throughout — subtle yet deep and unsettling.
While not dedicated to anyone in particular, one might easily see it as referring to a close friend — or, rather, to the hope of a reunion with the unnamed fallen comrade, in the great and idyllic hereafter. At this point, it might also be helpful to note that Sassoon was a deeply spiritual man, not always in a conventional sense. Many of his poems, even the early ones, contain recognisably Christian themes, as seen in this poem.
In the grey summer garden I shall find you
With day-break and the morning hills behind you.
There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings;
And down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings.
Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep
Where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep:
And I shall know the sense of life re-born
From dreams into the mystery of morn
Where gloom and brightness meet. And standing there
Till that calm song is done, at last we'll share
The league-spread, quiring symphonies that are
Joy in the world, and peace, and dawn’s one star.ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Siegfried Sassoon (an Encyclopedia Britannica entry)
Intro to WW1 Poetry: Siegfried Sassoon
Rediscovering Siegfried Sassoon by Brooke Allen
Siegfried Sassoon: The reluctant hero by Michael Morpurgo
NOTES
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COVER PHOTO CREDIT
Image by Alicia Christin Gerald via Unsplash.
#EnglishLiterature #FirstWorldWar #literature #poem #poetry #readingComprehension #readingSkills #summer #war #warPoets -
After the Germans adopted the Stahlhelm (on the left in the picture) during the First World War, the British must have recognized how much more protection to the wearer it offered than the Brodie Helmet.
I wonder why they did not copy the German design. Was the cost of production a factor?
#History #MilitaryHistory #Helmet #Headwear #Stahlhelm #BrodieHelmet #FirstWorldWar #WW1 #GreatWar
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Robert Graves -- Good-Bye To All That
This 1929 autobiographical work is indispensable for an understanding of how many British dealt with the memory of the Great War in the years that followed.
The accounts of the chaos and confusion of military operations were vividly narrated, but did not come as a great surprise to me. I was more taken aback by the stories of allied mistreatment of German prisoners, with Graves picking out Canadian and Australian soldiers as especially notable for this behaviour.
"Good-Bye To All That" is rich with memorable anecdote and imagery, such as tommies using machine gun cooling water to make tea, and incidents of the wartime absurd, like the story of Graves mistakenly being reported as dead, then receiving a communication from his commanding officer: “I cannot tell you how pleased I am you are alive.”
Nevertheless the horror of the war is never forgotten: “The first dead body I came upon was Samson’s. I found that he had forced his knuckles into his mouth to stop himself crying out and attracting any more men to their death. He had been hit in 17 places.”
#Books #RobertGraves #GoodByeToAllThat #Autobiography #BritishLiterature #LiteratureInEnglish #FirstWorldWar #WW1 #History
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"When the #Ginsburg family gathered in #Kaunas on June 22, 1941, fourteen of them spent the day arguing over a single question. Should they flee east behind the retreating #Soviets, or stay? They weighed the #Germans. Some recalled the German occupation of the #FirstWorldWar and reasoned that the Germans were not so bad, that life would be harder but better than under the #Communists. They decided to stay. Of the fourteen who sat together that day, #WaldemarGinsburg alone survived the war. Years later he explained what they had failed to anticipate. They had expected trouble from the Germans, “but the trouble came from a direction which we did not expect.”
That sentence contains the history of the two weeks that followed. Between June 22 and July 6, 1941, the #Jews of Kaunas learned that the most immediate threat to their lives was not the invading army. It was the people among whom they had lived. Neighbors. Tradesmen. Men from their own streets."
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/when-kaunass-jews-learned-whom-to-fear/
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Una muñeca de lana como amuleto de la suerte de un soldado del regimiento de Londres en la Primera Guerra Mundial (1914-1918). Soldados franceses usaron amuletos similares, a veces con colores patrióticos. 🏛️Wellcome #primeraguerramundial #firstworldwar
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The women who served as munitions workers during the #FirstWorldWar endured dismal conditions and a plethora of dangers: illness, injury, and death.
Why are they barely remembered?
⌛️ Last chance to read this article for free
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The women who served as munitions workers during the #FirstWorldWar endured dismal conditions and a plethora of dangers: illness, injury, and death. Why are they barely remembered?
🔓 Patricia Fara’s new Great Debates is free for 7 days
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/great-debates/human-canaries-remembering-munitionettes
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The first day of the #Somme has become synonymous with incompetent leadership during the #FirstWorldWar. The true picture of the battle – and the role played by General Haig – is more complex.
⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/was-somme-exercise-futility
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The first day of the Somme has become synonymous with incompetent leadership during the #FirstWorldWar. The true picture of the battle – and the role played by General Haig – is more complex.
⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free
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#DouglasHaig was born #OnThisDay in 1861.
The #Somme has become synonymous with incompetent leadership during the #FirstWorldWar. The true picture of the battle – and the role played by Haig – is more complex.
🔓 This archive article is free for 7 days
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Turkish Pre-Dreadnought Battleship Turgut Reis https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/turkish-pre-dreadnought-battleship-turgut-reis/ #Battleship, #FirstWorldWar, #MaritimeHistory, #NavalHistory, #Pre-dreadnought, #Pre-dreadnoughtBattleship, #TurgutReis, #TurkishNavy, #Warship, #WorldWarOne, #WW1
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Coward review – soldiers find escapism and romance in wartime theatrical troupe https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/22/coward-review-soldiers-find-escapism-and-romance-in-wartime-theatrical-troupe #Film #CannesFilmFestival #DramaFilms #WarFilms #FirstWorldWar #Belgium #RomanceFilms #LgbtqRights #Culture #Europe #Festivals #WorldNews
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HMS St. Vincent at anchor, Scapa Flow, Scotland https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/british-battleship-hms-st-vincent/ #RoyalNavy #battleofjutland #battleship #firstworldwar #hmsstvincent #warship #worldwarone #maritimehistory #NavalHistory
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Two imperial ventures at Kut al-Amara, one in the #FirstWorldWar and another in the Iraq War, reveal the similarities – and differences – in the exercise of power.
⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/kut-losses-two-disasters-mesopotamia
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No revolutions, nothing medieval - a friend sent me this awesome resource about what German officers drank in 1910 and it probably explains a few things about the #FirstWorldWar
https://www.culina-vetus.de/2026/04/10/getting-colossally-drunk-royal-prussian-version/
#culinaryhistory #foodhistory #cocktails #Wilhelmine #drinking #militaryhistory
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The politicians and planners behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq ignored the lessons of the British capture of Baghdad from the Ottomans at the end of the #FirstWorldWar.
⌛️ Last chance to read this archive article for free
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/entering-baghdad-liberators